Anne Walker

Photograph of Cambridge Observatory Transit Circle, presumably in Thomas Cooke and Son workshop, York, 1870. This is the instrument used by Walker for her documented observations.

Anne (also, Annie) Walker (21 October 1863 – 2 March 1940) was a British astronomer and one of the first—probably the first —women employed in paid routine work in astronomy in her country. She was one of a number of women computers employed at Cambridge Observatory between 1882 and 1903. Unlike most of these women, Walker remained at the observatory for a significant period of time. From 1892, Walker became Graham's observation partner and from 1894 to 1896, she observed alone.

Photograph of the Cambridge Observatory Transit Circle, taken in April 1896. The astronomer is almost certainly Andrew Graham, Senior Assistant, with whom Walker worked most directly during her career Resignation Andrew Graham retired in 1903 at the age of eighty-eight. Walker, who had hoped to be appointed to his position, was overlooked in favour of a younger, male, colleague whom she had trained. She emigrated to join her brother Frank Walker, a butcher, in Nyora, near Melbourne, Australia and died on 2 March 1940 in Glen Huntly, Victoria. The same year, the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge launched a search for a photograph of Walker, in order to be able to better commemorate her contributions.